SANTIAGO. 207 



battle take place and become desperate, the women usually take 

 part in it. Should they lose it, it is not uncommon for the 

 men to put to death their wives and children to prevent them 

 from falling into the hands of the enemy, and indeed till now 

 it was only anticipating, by a few minutes, the fate of these wretched 

 creatures ; for quarter was neither given nor taken on either 

 side, the Indians in the Spanish ranks continuing their own war 

 customs in spite of their partial civilisation. The Director now 

 gives a reward for all persons, especially women and children, saved 

 on these occasions. The children are to be educated and employed 

 hereafter as mediators between their nations and Chile, and, to this 

 end, care is taken that they should not forget their native tongue. 

 The Director was kind enough to talk to them in the Araucanian 

 tongue, that I might hear the language, which is soft and sweet ; 

 perhaps it owed something to the young voices of the children. One 

 of them pleased me especially : she is a little Maria, the daughter of a 

 Cacique, who, with his wife and all the elder part of his family, was 

 killed in a late battle. Dona Rosa takes a particular charge of the 

 little female prisoners, and acts the part of a kind mother to them. 

 I was charmed with the humane and generous manner in which she 

 spoke of them. As to Dona Isabella, she appears to live on her son's 

 fame and greatness, and looks at him with the eyes of maternal love, 

 and gathers every compliment to him with eagerness. He is modest 

 and simple, and plain in his manners, arrogating nothing to himself; 

 or, if he has done much, ascribing it to the influence of that love of 

 country which, as he says, may inspire great feelings into an ordinary 

 man. He conversed very freely about the state of Chile, and told 

 me he doubted not but that I must be surprised at the backwardness 

 of the country in many things, and particularly mentioned the want 

 of religious toleration, or, rather', the very small measure of it which, 

 considering the general state of things, he had yet been able to grant, 

 without disturbing the public tranquillity ; and he seemed a little 

 inclined to censure those Protestants who wished prematurely to force 

 upon him the building a chapel, and the public institution of Pro- 



